JustFuya
106 posts
Apr 27, 2014
8:49 PM
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I haven't soaked a harp since my bloodied lips healed back in the 70s. That was really swell. I just revived a pinned GM (10 draw) by soaking it in vinegar and rinsing it in warm water. It was made of scutty plastic & brass. I wasn't about to pull the nails on an instrument that I had already replaced. I did however have 120psi available to finish it off. That wasn't necessary and I have since ordered a new comb for it. Screw it.
What I was wondering .... how do you maintain these things?
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STME58
793 posts
Apr 27, 2014
11:03 PM
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I have found a quick rinse of a harp will frequently restore a stuck reed. I usually rinse them when I see a lot of buildup in the holes. All of may harps have either sealed wood combs or plastic of metal combs so I don't have a swelling problem.
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Kingley
3578 posts
Apr 27, 2014
11:23 PM
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I have found over the years that it's always a good thing to care for your harmonicas, by gently tapping out the moisture after you play them. Generally then they are fine and don't get too many problems with stuck reeds.
When I do get stuck reeds the first things I do are tap the harmonica lightly on my thigh to try and free it up, or blow and draw gently in the back of the harmonica (draw on the blow plate and blow on the draw plate). That usually frees things up. If it's still problematic then I'll take off the covers and look for any other issues.
I find that if a harp has been embossed the reeds seem to stick more readily with saliva residue than a stock harp. Also closer gapping of the reeds can sometimes cause the same issue. usually though the methods I've described above solve the problem.
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florida-trader
472 posts
Apr 28, 2014
6:48 AM
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Just a quick funny story about those old pinned GMs and vinegar. Going back about 5 years ago when I first started hanging out on the various harmonica forums – mostly harp-l back then – I came into possession of a bunch of old Golden Melodies. It was one of my first restoration projects. The harps had literally been in a fire and exposed to high enough heat that the plastic combs had melted. I was able to remove all the reed plates and to my inexperienced eyes and ears, they seemed to be in good shape. There was some of the usual staining and tarnish on the plates and I recalled someone mentioned using vinegar to clean reed plates. So put about 10 sets of reed plates and a bunch of screws in a jar and filled it with vinegar.
I let it sit for several days – maybe even several weeks. I don’t remember exactly. Then one day I noticed that the vinegar was turning kinda green/brown so I figured maybe it was time to take the plates out of the jar. So I poured off the vinegar and took the reed plates out of the jar. To my amazement, on several of the plates, the reeds were GONE! My first thought was that the vinegar had dissolved the reeds right off the plates. That puzzled me because the plates themselves seemed unaffected. Why would vinegar dissolve brass reeds but not brass plates? Could it be that the plates are thicker? I found my answer when I dumbed what was in the bottom of the jar out. It wasn’t the reeds that had dissolved. It was the rivets! All the reeds were lying in the bottom of the jar with the screws. About half the screws were almost completely dissolved too.
This only happened to about half the plates that I soaked in the vinegar. The rest were fine. I’m sure that JustFuya is not soaking his harps for nearly as long as I did but I thought you would get a kick out of the story.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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JustFuya
108 posts
Apr 28, 2014
9:20 AM
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Thank you all for your input. My real concern was for my only customized OB/OD harp. I've been careful to avoid blowing beverages through it. Before it goes in the box I make sure all notes are alive, draw from 1 to 10 and tap it on my thigh.
Lately I'd been having to coax a few notes at the beginning of the next practice session. Finally I could not coax the 8 draw. A warm water rinse with light tapping brought everything back to normal. Thanks again.
Tom: Maybe you have hit on a kinder, gentler method of removing reeds. If only there is a way to soak one rivet at a time.
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nacoran
7698 posts
Apr 28, 2014
1:27 PM
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For plastic combed harps with screws, sonic cleaners work really well. I got mine from Turboharp.com. It fits 4 harps at a time. You get a lot of gunk out even if you don't take the harps apart, but obviously, you get them even cleaner if you take them apart a bit. I actually use a mix of water and Listerine in it.
Of course, wood combs swell if you soak them, and some harps are easier to take apart than others. For day to day maintenance, I use craft picks (you can get them at a hobby store, usually they are used for putting dabs of glue on your model. You can get a life time supply for about $2.) I use them to scrape any visible gunk off the outside of holes. Then I finish it off with a polishing cloth like the Seydel one. I think it's just microfiber cloth. You don't want one impregnated with silver polish! If you have the covers off, you can use an old toothbrush on the covers or comb, but I'd recommend against using it on the reed plates- the bristles can get caught in the reeds and cause problems unless you are very careful.
Mostly I worry the most about the outside where my lips will be running. That grime can bust your lips. With the insides, I don't worry about it unless I notice the harp isn't playing well (or for eBay harps, which I sterilize with everything short of nuclear radiation.)
But really, the sonic cleaners work great, and they are only $40-$50, and will clean 4 harps in 5 minutes. Just shake dry when you are done.
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Nate
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bluemoose
969 posts
Apr 28, 2014
4:10 PM
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I feed my harps Guinness and the occasional Wild Turkey.
I find they don't care much for the vinegar thing. Especially chips.
MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids
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isaacullah
2731 posts
May 02, 2014
8:13 AM
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@Nate: You'll have the best result with that ultrasonic cleaner if you 1) use distilled (or better yet, DI) water, 2, heat the water first (to at least 80% of boiling), and 3) use a surfactant/detergent combo. The easiest thing to do is to use steaming-hot tap water with some liquid dish soap. The ultrasonic cleaners work by creating small vaccum "bubbles" on the surface of the object being cleaned, which collapse violently creating a plasma of about 5000 degrees C, and shockwave of about 500 miles per hour. It's this process that actually "cleans" the object. Water with lot's of dissolved oxygen prevents this from happening. So, heating the water drives off some of the O2, and then adding a surfactant (wetting agent) helps with the rest. The detergent also helps by allowing the water to react with material usually only fat-soluable. Don't use listerine. Not only does the listerine do nothing to aid that process, but it may actually let off some alchohol fumes in a dense fuel-air mixture that could explode if there's a spark nearby, so i would really advise against that. You can always soak the harps in listerine afterwards, if you are so inclined...
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Last Edited by isaacullah on May 02, 2014 8:18 AM
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